It no longer appears Blake Bortles has a shot of being taken No. 1 in next week's NFL draft, but he apparently would gladly take No. 8 to Minnesota.

Central Florida offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe said his departing star quarterback has told him he would be "happy'' going to the Vikings and believes he would fit well into offensive coordinator Norv Turner's system since the Knights ran a similar one.

"He likes the Vikings,'' Taaffe said in a phone interview. "He feels very comfortable with them. He likes the coaches, (general manager) Rick Spielman, who was (on campus). I know Blake told me he had a real comfort level with them.''

Spielman, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer and Turner watched Bortles' pro day in March at the Orlando, Fla., school. They also had a private meeting with Bortles, and they asked Taaffe some questions about him.

It remains to be seen if Minnesota will take a quarterback at No. 8 or might instead look to select one in a later round. If the Vikings go with a signal caller with that pick, many draft analysts believe Bortles is the most likely choice.

Bortles had been talked about in previous weeks about possibly going to Houston with the top pick, but the Texans are now likely to take South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney or possibly Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Of all the teams Bortles has met with, Taaffe said Bortles told him the Vikings were one that stood out.

"We've talked a lot,'' Taaffe said.

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"I'm not going to share some of the teams that he didn't have a great comfort level with, but Minnesota is one of the teams he felt good about.''

Taaffe knows Turner well. He said Turner has spoken well about how Bortles might fit into his offense.

"Norv said he thought he was real familiar with the kind of system they ran,'' Taaffe said. "Whatever that leads to, I don't know. But I felt like (the Vikings) did like him when they were down here.''

Bortles is considered to have a great upside but is still a bit raw. Because Central Florida ran a similar system to Turner's, Taaffe believes he could develop more quickly with Minnesota than with another team.

"Our system of offense at UCF was very similar to Norv's system,'' Taaffe said. "Blake said he felt very comfortable with the familiarity with the system. He said he liked Norv. ... I think Minnesota could be a good team (for Bortles) because I think with the system they run the learning curve would be short.''

If the Vikings take a quarterback at No. 8, it would mark the highest they ever have drafted one. Interestingly, the current highest selected one was Daunte Culpepper, who went No. 11 in 1999 after starring at Central Florida.